u/ArmadilloChance3778

Hello, question see title. I currently have a pretty intense exercise routine (5-6 workouts per week plus 10k walking daily), all to be able to eat 1400 and still lose. I'm 5'1 and only a few pounds away from my goal weight so losing is hard. I feel like my routine is not sustainable long term as it zaps my energy. I can see myself doing 2-3 workouts max in the long run.

If I reduce my calories to 1200, will I be able to lose despite exercising less? I'm asking for your experiences as I find tdee calculators to be kinda generous and not really accurate (or please suggest an accurate one).

Eta: Ok, you have convinced me that trying to get down to 100 lbs is indeed foolish and possibly unhealthy. I will have to learn to love my body the way it is. Thank you all for putting my perfectionism into perspective, I don't need to torture myself over chasing some overly high standards. Love y'all

In scrolling through this sub, I have seen some great ideas and can only admire your ingenuity and willingness to make actually delicious food with little calories. For me personally, Im a lazy chef. I call boiling some rice cooking and would never try my hand at low calorie baking bc a) I cant be bothered and b) being the glutton that I am I would probably eat the whole thing in 1 or 2 days. I achieve a low calorie count by adding copious amounts of vegetables to small amounts of regular food.

I dunno where Im going with this, I guess it's just to say that you guys really know what you're doing!

Ive been applying to everything that fits my profile even remotely and I either dont hear back or get rejected without an interview. Getting desperate bc Im burning through my money, I applied for a job stacking shelves. They just ignore.me.

Should I delete my last short-term employment of 8 months (where I got let go bc the boss had misjudged their need for staff) and lie about the gap?

Hello, I'm struggling to find something to put on bread that isnt nut butter and still agrees with my IBS-D. I cant have legumes (beans, lentils) (tofu is fine), anything with onion or garlic, and dont want to have nut butter all the time bc of the calories. I also dont want to use vegan spread (margarine) bc its unhealthy fats. Jam is an option but lacks protein. What do?

I tried to make a spread out of mashed tofu and ended up with tofu crumbles that didnt stay put on my bread.

Hello, for the last 3-4 months I've had this problem with my digestion. Almost every day after breakfast, I get diarrhea and need to use the restroom about 4 to 7 times, which takes 30-60 minutes. I also have gut pain often the whole day but usually no more bowel movements during the rest of the day.

I tried changing my diet to low fodmaps, reduced my fiber intake, and at first it seemed to help but now Im back at square one. I tried adding psyllium and that made it worse.

Should I see a specialist about this? This is not compatible with my daily life, haha 🥲

Hello, as per the title I need help with my lunch. My main issue is that I'm hungry again after 3 hours and I cannot snack at work. Ideally, it should keep me full for 5 hours, if that is possible. I also don't have a huge calorie budget as I'm only 5'1 and need to lose some weight, so 500 cal tops.

So far, I have been eating:

2 slices of pumpernickel bread (100 cal each)

1/2 can of kidney beans

1/2 can of sweet corn

arugula and tomato

1 tbsp pumpkin seeds (15 g)

Could I increase satiation by swapping the bread for rice or another starch? Do I need more fats? I tried swapping the corn for 100 g of tofu but it didn't keep me full any longer. Any help is greatly appreciated!

Hallo, ich brauche euren Input. Zum Mittag esse ich 2 Scheiben Pumpernickel, 1/2 Dose Kidneybohnen, 1/2 Dose Mais, 1 EL Kürbiskerne (15 g) und dazu noch Salat und Tomate. Problem ist, dass ich dann nach 3 Stunden wieder Hunger habe und auf der Arbeit nicht snacken kann.

Ich habe es versuchsweise mal mit weniger Mais und dafür noch 100 g Tofu probiert,mit demselben Ergebnis.

Jetzt könnte man natürlich sagen, dann iss halt eine Scheibe Brot mehr. Problem ist nur, dass ich klein bin (155 cm) und nicht so ein großes Kalorienbudget habe. Das Mittagessen sollte nicht deutlich über 500 Kalorien haben.

Hat mir einer von euch einen Tipp, was ich machen kann, oder wie ich die langfristige Sättigung verbessern kann? Oder gibt es da nichts zu optimieren und ich muss einfach bei einer anderen Mahlzeit Kalorien einsparen?

Danke.

Eta: vielen Dank an alle, die mir Tipps gegeben haben! Danke, dass ihr hilfsbereit und wertschätzend seid, das ist auf Reddit ja leider nicht selbstverständlich. Klasse Community!

Hello, I have a problem. I've transitioned to a wfpb diet a couple of months ago and my digestion is getting worse instead of better. Every morning, I need the restroom 4-5 times to go #2 (sorry for the tmi). All in all, I need to get up 1 hour earlier just so I can be sure to be all empty before I leave the house.

I eat what I think is a very healthy diet with legumes (chickpeas, kidney beans, lentils and tofu) daily, whole grains, arugula, fruit, other veggies. I really enjoy eating this way but my gut seems to hate it. I get around 50 grams of fiber a day and am wondering if this is too much. Maybe I should switch to peanut butter sandwiches for lunch and skip the beans?

Im grateful for any tips, insights and experiences on how to resolve this issue.

Disclaimer: I know that veganism isnt a diet. This isnt about ethics or ideology but solely about nutrition.

Recently, I stumbled over a 2022 umbrella review on tandfonline that questions what I thought I knew after reading dozens of studies that claimed health benefits with a wfpb diet. The authors stringently tested and recalculated a multitude of studies and reviews (they describe the exact methologies in their paper).

I ask you for your thoughts and interpretation of the study:

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/10408398.2022.2075311#d1e857

Does this mean that a wfpb diet is pretty pointless in regards to health since there is only weak evidence and that the health benefits of a vegan diet have been overhyped?

Disclaimer: I know that veganism isnt a diet, so I ask any lurking vegans to not wag their finger at me.

I originally came to veganism over the supposed health benefits, ethics came later to me. Both my parents have high blood pressure, high cholesterol and my father had a heart attack and was diagnosed with coronary artery disease. Naturally, I want to avoid to step in their footprints. After reading a lot of papers online, a vegan wfbp diet seemed like the way to go.

Recently, I stumbled over an 2022 umbrella review on tandfonline that questions what I thought I knew. The authors stringently tested and recalculated a multitude of studies and reviews (they describe the exact methologies in their paper) and concluded that "there is weak evidence that a vegan diet might be associated with a lower risk of mortality and cancer incidence".

*Weak* evidence that it *might* be associated, when a bunch of the studies I read made it sound like it was set in stone that a vegan diet is best. The umbrella review also notes that a vegan diet can raise triglycerides (which, I guess, stems from high intake of refined carbs and shouldnt be a thing on a wfpb diet).

Im still not 100% convinced that it is pointless to try and influence my future health, so I ask you for your thoughts and interpretation of the study:

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/10408398.2022.2075311#d1e857

Do you think I have a chance to avoid such a fate as my fathers if I continue wfpb? Or would I be better off including animal products here and there? Im conflicted and frustrated since I thought I had found the solution and now it looks like it all was a pipe dream. Crossposting to r/nutrition, maybe.

I recently posted here and got quite a few vegans answering. Unsurprisingly, they were condescending, hostile and patronizing. My question is, if it upsets you so much to see people questioning and and doubting the vegan diet, why do you follow this sub? Is it masochism or the need to prove to yourself that you are better than us? Youre really making vegans as a whole look bad.

I believed for a long time that all you really need to supplement on a vegan diet is b12, maybe calcium and iodine. Unsurprisingly, even though I consumed a supposedly healthy minimally processed plant based diet, my health is not the best. I exercise a lot so I tend to pick up on dips in my performance pretty quickly and I noticed that I overall feel weaker during my workouts.

So, I read up on nutrients that may be lacking in a vegan diet. Turns out that creatine, carnosine, taurine and DHA and EPA are of special concern.

While the body can manufacture creatine and taurine, it is likely not enough for optimal health. Carnosine can only be made by the body if it has beta-alanine which is only found in animal products.

DHA and EPA can theoretically be supplemented, but recent research shows that the supplementation accelerates cognitive decline (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2274580726000932).

Furthermore, in a study regarding sufficient amino acid consumtion of vegans it was shown that almost half of the test subjects lacked lysine and leucine, two essential amino acids (https://www.healthline.com/health-news/vegan-protein-may-lack-essential-amino-acids).

Bottom line: vegan "doctors" like Greger, McDougall, Barnard make it seem like all you need to worry about is b12 when in reality there is a plethora of nutrients missing on a vegan diet and supplementation may have negative effects depending on the nutrient in question.

Hello, Ive been on a little weight loss journey for 3 weeks. First week I averaged 1443 cal (lost nothing), second week was 1294 cal (lost 1 kg), third week was 1264 average (lost nothing).

Should I reduce my calories to 1200 sharp to try and get the weight moving again or am I too impatient? Im 5'1 for reference and currently 108 lbs wishing to get back to 100 (i gained from being on zyprexa).

I also walk about 1 hour a day and do calisthenics 3 times a week and spinning twice a week for 30 minutes, but asides from that, Im just sitting at home (currently between jobs). I appreciate any advice!

I never used to have problems with working out consistently for years before. Nowadays, Im on a weight loss journey again bc I gained weight on zyprexa (still on it bc otherwise my depression spirals) and I find myself unmotivated and looking fir excuses (mainly too tired, too lethargic) to not exercise.

I tell myself to just do it, its non negotiable and Ill feel better after the workout, but Id still like inspiration from you guyss how to rekindle my desire to workout.

It also doesnt help that Ill start a full time position in September and am pretty sure that I legitimately wont have the energy to keep exercising then as much as I do now, so itll be mostly trying to maintain any level of fitness with 2-3 workouts per week whereas now I get 5 (bodyweight and cardio on seperate days).

ETA

I did my workout and it was really good! Thanks a lot to everybody who shared strategies, tips and some tough love! I'm new to this community and I really like it here ❤️

I've been consistently exercising for the last 15 years and never had a problem sticking to my routine. It was just something I did. I'm currently on a weight loss journey (again) after gaining weight on zyprexa.

And I'm finding myself trying to make excuses to not exercise, feeling toi lethargic and kinda meh towards exercise. It doesnt spark the joy anymore it used to do, or it kinda does during but not before. Im not outright dreading my workouts, Id just prefer if I didnt have ti do them, lol.

So, when you feel like this, what do you tell yourself? I'm telling myself to just do it, youll feel accomplished after, and this has kinda worked but Id like some inspiration from you guys. Thanks so much!

I'll go first:

Believing that I would lose weight if I eat low-fat-everything 😂

Believing that I didn't need to count calories and could just wing it "because I exercise" (bc we all know that exercise burns sooo many calories, right 😆)

What are yours?

For me it was condiments, especially mustard. I always thought it had close to zero calories until I learned that my big spoonful of it in the salad sauce actually is 50 cal.

Might not seem like much, but I'm 5'1 and have to stick to 1200 cal to lose anything so my margin of error is slim.

Anyone else?

I often hear about people enjoying occasional cheat meals and how it helps them stay sane. For me, I went to get some ice cream yesterday and all it did was make me crave more. I was still in a mild deficit for the day bc I did spinning and ate my regular diet meals for my other meals, but these cravings were annoying.

I know that the ice cream probably caused a blood sugar spike and crash which predictably caused hunger, so maybe I just chose poorly but honestly, all I crave are sweets.

What is your experience with cheat meals?

I'm just curious about your experiences. I've recently decided to make use of 2 free months that I have between jobs and to give myself a glow-up, losing weight that has been bothering me for a year (you know how it is when you're busy with work and feel like you can't focus on yourself).

Before, I've tried losing weight going plantbased. Lots of whole foods, around 60 g of fiber a day, decent protein (70g), only homecooked meals and low fat. I was always so hungry during the day and especially in the evening that I would blow my deficit (which was modest at 300 calories) and never lost anything.

Now, in my newest attempt, I follow a different strategy. I stopped eating exclusively plants and added protein so that I get 120 g daily and a bit more fat. The difference in my hunger levels is like night and day and I'm finally able to stick to my deficit and actually make progess.

Have you had a similar experience? Was high protein moderate fats also the key to your weight loss or are you rocking the higher carb lifestyle?